| Title: | Stewart, Frances to Atwood, Annie, 1866 |
|---|---|
| ID | 4775 |
| Collection | Revisiting Our Forest Home, The immigrant letters of Frances Stewart [J. L. Aoki] |
| File | stewart/57 |
| Year | 1866 |
| Sender | Stewart, Frances |
| Sender Gender | female |
| Sender Occupation | housewife |
| Sender Religion | unknown |
| Origin | Douro Township, Newcsatle District, Upper Canada |
| Destination | Gore's Landing, Ontario, Canada |
| Recipient | Atwood, Annie |
| Recipient Gender | female |
| Relationship | friends |
| Source | |
| Archive | |
| Doc. No. | |
| Date | |
| Partial Date | |
| Doc. Type | |
| Log | unknown |
| Word Count | 698 |
| Genre | family life |
| Note | |
| Transcript | 1866: October 9 To Annie Atwood, Gore's Landing, Ontario Douro Tuesday 9th Oct'r 1866 My dearest Annie, Your letter gave me a very pleasant surprise as I had no idea you had come up to Lakefield much less that you had been so long there without my having heard of it. This gave me some pain, which has decidedly been increasing ever since from each day passing without any of our party being able to go over to see you. Kate Brown had arranged with Annie Stewart to go to spend a good afternoon with your dear Mother before you had come, & since that they have had different days named for going, but always one thing or another came in the way. You who have only two children & a very small establishment know some of the difficulties of leaving home even for a few hours, but you can hardly imagine how almost impossible it is for either Bessie or Kate to leave such a tribe of young things together, 7 of them under 9 years old & 4 older but not wiser, & myself requiring care & assistance, I am sorry to say unable to help even in nursing now as I have constant asthma if I exert myself in the least, & then the housekeeping is double & everything is so crowded up that much more care is required. But dearest Annie I do thank you for your letter & I do indeed grieve that so much of your visit has passed on without our meeting. Our last meeting was so very uncomfortable too, now nearly two years ago, at least it will be in a few months. At Goodwood we had more possibility of seeing you on your way, as you could make it a resting stage. But I do hope I may live (DV) to see you & Clinton & your dear little ones at Goodwood once more. If you come up again in winter, or even next summer though I can hardly venture to look forward so far. I knew you were to be in Douro in Sept'r & we were talking of you that very day & saying we wondered if Mr. A. had got his crops in, &c, when in the evening your letter was brought to me & we were all so vexed to find you had been there so long & now a fortnight has gone over & none of us have yet been able to get over to see you. Believe me it is not want of inclination dearest Annie. I hope nothing may again prevent Kate from going tomorrow. She has had many days settled but always some hindrance came in the way. I hope your little cottage may be made quite air tight & comfortable for you & that it may be quite dry before you venture to return. Our new home is not ready for us yet which is a great disappointment to us all. We have been ten months living here crowding up dear Kate, but they are so kind they never let us feel that we are in their way..., Bessie desired me to tell you that she did not expect you to write to her. We all know by experience how one feels after having been burnt out & being unsettled for months after. I have not been quite well today and felt very dull & uncomfortable with asthma & now I find it was caused by this change in the weather. I have excellent health for which I am indeed most thankful. Asthma is my only ailment but it don't seem to affect my general health tho' it exhausts & wearies me & makes me awfully sleepy so that I can sleep at any time of the day if I sit down quietly for a few minutes. This & being deaf makes me very stupid. And now dear Annie as I begin to grow sleepy I must conclude. Wishing much that I could give you a loving embrace & kiss, ever your affect' Grannie, R Stewart Love & kiss to dear Kate & Mr. A. when you can give it. |
